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August 2008 Simlympics
The August 2008 Simlympics, also known as Penthesili 2008, and officially known as the Games of the VII Simlympiad, was a major international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Penthesili, Dimland. Although the games are officially called the August 2008 Simlympics, they actually took place from August 24 to September 7, 2008 and followed by the Penthesili 2008 Paralympics from September 7 to September 9. Athletes representing 62 nations competed in 50 events. The August 2008 Simlympics was the first time the Simlympic Flame was brought to the host city through a torch relay, with the starting point in New Rhodesia. It was also the first successful Simlympiad the Adrian Union participated in since its founding due to the cancelation of Windsor Park 2007 in December 2007 and the March 2008 Simlympics. Other new participating unions were IPON, COFR, and the Scandia Union which replaced the USCN. Some people may consider the August 2008 Simlympics as the first game of the "modern Simlympics" since many things now common to the Simlympics were first done here. Organisation Bid Venues Transport Media Coverage Torch relay For the first time ever, the torch relay was held. It began on August 1st with a tour around the volunteering countries, beginning with the city to host the first Simlympiad, New Rhodesia, until the opening ceremonies of the August 2008 Simlympics in Penthesili which concluded with the lighting of the couldron. The torch relay toured around a different city every day for 23 days, across land, sea and air, past monuments and world wonders as it reached its final destination. Cities from all over the SimCity community participated, with nations home to many different unions and worlds taking part. Sequence of events *'Day 1 - New City, New Rhodesia': The Simlympics retured home to the first host nation as the torch made its way through the city. Beginning at the Welsh Parliament, the Torch relay squad passed over Prince Llywelyn Bridge, over the gorgeous Metroplex, astride the Museum of Sentient Rights to cheering crowds. The route continued down through Union Quay Park into Rhodendron Bay, and the torch runner scaled the many stairs within the Celtica Colossus to light its torch, marking the beginning of the Torch Relay. *'Day 2 - Marceau, Rorysville': Starting at the Marceau Bank Stadium, Marceau's Newest Stadium and Home to the Marceau Galaxy of the RVFL as well as 1922 Marceau FC of the RVFA Premiere Division, the torch made it's way up Central Marceau University Ave. and up Evergreen Ave. all the way into downtown passing Marceau Veterans Cementary and Marceau's Invasion Field before making its way into the downtown core. Then it continued heading south onto Ste. Catherines Ave. and West on the Outer Loop into the Marceau Mountain Centre District of town. The route continued down la Montange Blvd. to the Ballpark at MMC where the torch was lit to Ignite the Passion within and burned until the end of the games. *'Day 3 - Leah, Kingdom of Paranor Island': The event was widely covered by the national media as it is a much needed publicity occasion for the country. Much of the city's major roads were closed off for the relay as the torch began its run by Parliament Building. The route passed by many important sporting areas of the city, including the University of Leah. Thousands of people lined the city's streets for the event with great enthusiasm. *'Day 4 - Rorysville City, Rorysville': The relay began at the Presidents Palace and across the 27th Avenue Bridge through the Rorysville River into downtown then east up the river twords St. Andrew's. The torch then retunred into downtown from Constitution Ave as it passed the New Rhodesian Embassy. As it entered the downtown, the torch traveled the State Loop and continued towards Celtic Park before ending at the Capital Dome where the torch was lit at the Capital Pool. *'Day 5 - Vartak, Republic of Myon': The torch made its way through the Vartak City Park before making its way to the waterfront where it passed through the downtown area of the city. *'Day 6 - Ylmeria, The Shalman Empire': Many people gathered around the torch's path which began at the Technological Exhibition and made its way to the Archives and the Freedom Memorial by car. Through out the rest of the relay, the torch passed through the Imperial Ballroom, Gate Park and Obelisk Park by foot where a grand fireworks display concluded the relay through the city. *'Day 7 - Stratton': This was the first time in the torch relay where the torch was carried by automobiles throughout most of the race rather than the tradtional run. It began its journey at the Statton Sports Park where the it is carried to the Metro Tram station via bus. From there, the torch takes a train ride to Gate Park station where it is carried by foot to its final destination the Stratton Historical Palace. *'Day 8 - Constantina, The Federation of Buesti and Ravoi': The torch was carried by Alina Alexandra Dumitru, the F.B.R Women's Tennis Captain of the Penthesili 2008. It made its way to several city landmarks and sports arenas including the site of the December 2008 Simlympic Games Constantina bid and the IPON Expo. When the torch reached the National Gallery, it lit the torch which burned until the start of the Games. When it finally reached the Parishoner's gate, a fireworks show began, marking the start of construction on the Demember Simlympic Bid Complex and ending the torch relay. *'Day 9 - No Relay Leg scheduled' *'Day 10 - Tales at TeaTime': The relay passed through most parts of the city. The most memorable moment of the relay was the passing of the flame through the Arch, which was the lighting of the left end of the arch, allowing the flame to travel across it and therefore passing on to the waiting torch bearer on the other side. *'Day 11 - No Relay Leg scheduled' *'Day 12 - East Paradise Valley, Pheonoia': Despite the recent civil war in the country and the Rhodesia Trial, Pheonoia was able to hold its leg of the relay. The final torch bearer of the previous leg brought flame to the Gardens of the World Park via monorail and lit the torch of Roger Steinback, the first gold medalist of Pheonoia, and the first torchbearer for this leg of the relay. The torch was carried through several government buildings and parks such as the Capital Hill before lighting the Pagoda structure and concluding the leg with a fireworks display. *'Day 13 - No Relay Leg scheduled' *'Day 14 - The Great Terran Region': The relay began at the Great Terran Bird's Nest stadium before making its way to many other stadiums and arenas in the city. *'Day 15 - Seahawksville, Tierra de la Oscuridad': The relay leg, despite getting huge media coverage was the shortest relay in the entire torch relay event, covering less than two kilometers. *'Day 16 - New Castia': The torch for the New Castia leg arrived via ship to the Port of New Castia. From there, it made its way to the torch route passing through the industrial area of the city to the stadium where the torch there was set ablaze. *'Day 17 - Portland, Republic of Cascadia': The torch began at the Alpine River station where it set off to the Peace Tower and Spirit Lake Memorial. It concluded its journey through the Capitol reflecting ponds and past the Capitol Building and Capitol Park. *'Day 18 - Port Matthew': The torch relay leg began through East Bank, crossing over the Eastern Arch Bridge between Patton Motors HQ and LG Towers. It continued through Southport between the Matthew Dome and Thunderbolt Stadium, towards Defenders' Square and over Defenders' Bridge. It then was carried in front of PMTV Studios before concluding its route. *'Day 19 - Delkon Forrest, USNSE': After much secrecy about the new Simlympic Park from Delkon Forrest brass it was finally unveiled to the world in the Simlympic Torch Relay. The torch began at the Simlympic Park ferry landing. The first runner was the president of the USNSE himself Michel Fischer, which marked the first time a nation's leader ever participated in the torch relay. The relay continued towards the downtown area of Delkon Forrest before ending the leg at the Delkon Forrest Country Club. *'Day 20 - Halifax': The relay began at the city museum where went to the western area of Downtown before heading south around Becon Hill. It then returned on the same route and made its way to the central Downtown Area where it concluded its journey at the Civic Center. *'Day 21 - West End': The Torch Relay route was designed to take in many of the sites from across West End beginning at the Canio park Stadium in Oxford, through Great Portland and to its final landmark, the New Baastenveld Stadium in Kingly. *'Day 22 - Atlantis City, The Imperial Atlantean Empire': This leg of the torch relay began its journey at the Imperial Square where it mades its way through the south part of the city to the National War Momorial. From there, it visited the Imperial Parliament and the Atlantis Old Quarter before heading towards the Imperial University. The route ended at the Atlantis National Stadium where the Atlantis Simlympic Couldron was lit until beginning of the Penthesili Games opening ceremony. *'Day 23 - Valère': The torch arrived at Valère airfield and was presented to the Monarch of Valère to run into downtown,30 miles away. In this segment of the torch relay, everything was ran by a person and no automobiles to honor the ancients who ran the entire relay. The torch passed through rural areas before entering dowtown which was then transfered to a couldron for display before the actual relay took place. The torch was carried by athletes who were not of Valère origin, and it passed through several downtown landmarks before concluding with a fireworks display. Games Opening Ceremony Even today, the opening ceremony of the August 2008 Simlympics is still considered of the best spectacles ever held at the Simlympics. The director, chorographer and artist John Paris was the man in charge of the Opening Ceremony. His idea was to show the beauty of Dimland and its civilization, its people, their dreams and their achievements. He was successful in touring the attendants and the billions of viewers at home to the beautiful landscapes, monuments and cities of Dimland. For Dimland the journey lasted almost for 2 years. :"Dear friends this is Dimland, a civilization strongly affected by the Greeks, similar to some parts…. different to some other. One thing is for sure... their soul is the same." The Opening ceremonies countdown started from 28 seconds which kicked off the official opening ceremony with a monumental fireworks show around the main stadium and the Simlympic Park. After the fireworks were the Amazonians' dance with Eleni Iliades and the national anthem of Dimland. The Parade of the Athletes followed introducing all the athletes from all sixty two participating nations. The ceremony continued with the raising of the Simlympic flag while the Simlympic athem was sung. The first part of the opening ceremonies concluded with the president of Dimland officially opening the games by reciting: :"Κυρήσω την έναρξη των Αγώνων της Πενθεσίλης και τον εορτασμό της Z' Σιμολυμπιάδας" (Greek: I declare the start of the Games of Pentesili and the celebrations of the VII Simlympiad) The opening of the games was followed by a speech made by the ISC President and a performance Andrea Bocelli. Then shortly after, the torch arrived and lit the flame and set off the firworks, officially ending the opening ceremony and beginning the first day of the Simlympic Games in Penthesili. Sports Closing Ceremony Highlights ParaSimlympics The August 2008 ParaSimlympics were composed of four sports held in two days. ParaSimlympic Athletics is the racing of wheelchairs which is equivalent to the Simlympics track, including all of the same events. Wheelchair racing is open to any type of disability, amputees, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and partially sighted (when combined with another disability). Athletes have classifications in which the severity of their disability or combinations of the athlete's disabilities. Goalball is a team sport designed for blind athletes. It was devised by Hanz Lorenzen, and Sepp Reindle , in 1946 in an effort to help in the rehabilitation of visually impaired World War II veterans. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded in it, into the opponents' goal. They must use the sound of the bell to judge the position and movement of the ball. Games consist of two 10 minute halves. Blindfolds allow partially sighted players to compete on an equal footing with blind players. At the August 2008 ParaSimlympic Games, swimmers competed in all four strokes - Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly and Breaststroke. Swimmers were classified according to their functional ability to perform each stroke. Classifications S1-S10 were for athletes with a physical disability (S1 being the most physically disabled athletes and S10 the least) and classifications S11-S13 referred to blind athletes (S11) and those with visual impairments (S12 & S13). Swimmers competed against athletes in their own classification. There were various ways for ParaSimlympic swimmers to start their race: in the water, from a standing start, or a dive start sitting on the starting platform. Boccia is a sport for athletes with a disability. Similar to bocce, it is designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy and other locomotor disabilities affecting motor skills. Boccia can be played by individuals, pairs, or teams of three. The aim of the game is to throw leather balls - coloured red or blue (which side gets which is determined by a coin toss) - as close as they can to a white target ball, or jack. The jack is thrown first, then each side takes turns to propel their ball towards the jack. The balls can be moved with hands, feet, or, if the competitor's disability is severe, with an assistive device. At the end of each round, or end, the referee measures the distance of the balls closest to the jack, and awards points accordingly - one point for each ball that is closer to the jack than the opponent's closest ball. The team/player with the highest number of points at the end of play is the winner. Medal count In the following, the host nation, Dimland, and the union it belongs in, Eurasia & Africa are highlighted. Legacy After the failure of Windsor Park to host the games in December 2007 due to the Simlympics' unpopularity among the SimCity online community after the ISC's failure to properly host previous Simlympics on schedule, Slacker continued to pursue his dream of a Simlympics held through out the SimWorld by cancelling bids and remodeling the way the ISC held Simlympics. This dream was finally materialized after the ISC held an August 2008 Simlympic Bidding session. Five bids were made and the session evidently became successful and restarted the Simlympic movement with Penthesili as the host. The ISC immediately sent invitations to unions following the success of the bidding session, and the Simlympics were back again, with more participating countries and unions all due to Slacker's efforts. External Links * Official forum Category:Simlympics